Drunk drivers endanger themselves, their passengers and other motorists on Washington roadways

The Farber Law Group, a Washington car accident attorney, represents people who have been seriously injured by drunken drivers. The clients we represent are innocent victims who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes our clients are small children, teenagers, and the elderly who were traveling in the same vehicle as the drunk driver.

It is especially tragic when a parent entrusts the care of their own child to a friend, a family member, a bus driver, or a babysitter and, unbeknownst to them, that person drives drunk. Sometimes the parents do not know that their child was endangered until there is an accident.

One example of this was in September 2013 when a 36-year-old school bus driver, Melissa Forrest, was charged with DUI after she rear-ended a wheel chair van. She had students on her school bus at the time of the bus accident.
Children injured in drunk driving accident

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that 211 children 0 to 14 years old were killed in accidents caused by drunk drivers in 2011. In half of those accidents, the child who died was in the same vehicle as the drunken driver.

Children who are riding with drunken drivers are also at risk because impaired drivers are less likely to properly buckle a child up. One study revealed that in car accidents where children were killed, sober drivers had properly used child restraints in 30.5% of the time compared with 18% for drivers who had been drinking.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving believes that drivers who drive with children in their vehicle when they are impaired are committing a criminal act of child abuse.and child endangerment and has worked tirelessly to increase penalties for these drivers. In Washington state, if an impaired driver is convicted of drunk driving with a passenger under the age of 16, child endangerment laws allow for an additional six months of using an ignition interlock device and an increased fine.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. Our personal injury law firm represents Washington car accident victims and the family of those who have been killed. If you have been the victim of a drunk driver, you are entitled to seek damages including medical costs, loss of wages and for pain and suffering.Related Posts: